Senator Jinggoy Estrada wants to punish purveyors of fake news with fines and jail time.
The senator’s Senate Bill 1296 seeks to protect the public from online falsehoods and manipulation. It will amend Section 3 of the RA 10175 or Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 to include “fake news” in the definition of terms and its inclusion in Section 4 on the list of cybercrime offenses.
The measure aims to stop the proliferation of disinformation and misinformation on the internet by criminalizing fake news.
“Click baits, propaganda, and manipulation of legitimate news segments to deliberately online falsehoods, false news or disinformation are so common nowadays, making it difficult to distinguish which is actual news from fake ones, masyado ng talamak ito (this is too much)” said the PH senator.
See also: PNP to Facebook: Shut down fake news pages
In a survey conducted by the SWS in December 2021, the majority of Filipinos find it hard to distinguish fake news on radio, television, and social media.
